No need to be upset at the truth! Change careers

Nurses Relations

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One thing that has baffled me on this website is individuals always are up in arms when the truth is, if you have no passion for the profession you need to make life decisions for yourself. Most individuals come on allnurses.com to complain about the nursing profession, long hours, nursing staff, arrogant doctors. The truth is, this is not Mcdonalds where you work the job because it's a requirement for survival. You entered into college and chose a profession that makes you miserable, spent countless hours studying a subject that you have no interest in, and entered the work field to make others who are passionate about their careers miserable. Yet, many complain that the healthcare field has taken a turn for the worse. Has it ever occurred to those same individuals, if there was no passion for the career to begin with there would be none after starting your first, second, third, or even tenth position?

Maybe it's my family values that taught me, if I don't love what I do there is no way I will ever be successful in life. Success is not defined by the basic salary, but level of contentment with my life all together.

So I say, if you hate nursing make life decisions so the rest of us can enjoy our jobs.

Thanks for the kind words beeker :) I dunno if it is harder, just different.

One case sticks out in my mind.

A young beautiful sweet blue eyed husky. He developed a pyothorax (foreign body?), needed a thoracotomy, lung lobectomy. He was the best patient ever pre op. His owners scraped up the thousands of dollars for his surgery, they wanted to save their beloved family member! It was a struggle for them.

I recovered him post median sternotomy (ouch!) he was stable intraop (needed some cells) and initially did well. SHortly post op he goes from wagging his tail at me, to pallor before my eyes. It is 2 am. His bp's drop. I am aspirating blood from his chest tube. Within minutes my faculty is there, we are pumping units into this beautiful dog as quickly as he bleeds. He dies right before my eyes. One minute he is looking at me with those beautiful blues, giving kisses, then next he is coding and I am bagging him with a bain circuit filling with blood until the owners can come say goodbye. What caused his hemorrhage, don't know, maybe he was a Von Willebrand dog, will never know. The owners could not take him back to surgery. They were out of money :( I cried right along side them as they euthanized him. I put everything I had into saving their family member. It was emotionally exhausting, still brings tears to my eyes. These are moments I experience working in ICU, most of my patients die. BUT, I am there to deliver the best care I can to my patients.

We all practice under the umbrella of medicine. We advocate for our patients, and hopefully give our patients the best care we can under the circumstances given to us. So yes, I do the job I do because I love critical care, and medicine. Does it suck at times, absolutely, will being a registered nurse be even worse, it sounds like it ;) I am not naive in that, believe me.

And, sorry to be long winded, I am lucky too have a wonderful job, making the same salary as many nurses on this board, with full benefits. Not all new (or potential) nurses are making career choices uniformed, or solely for the money. Unfortunately, I have advanced as far as I can in my current position. I cannot leave my position at the university and still make the same salary, essentially there is not a lot of room for growth. That is why am making the informed decision to enter nursing, for lateral mobility and professional growth. In othere words, there is no masters degree available, and no, I do not want to be a vet! (do NP's want to be Md's?) LOL

I agree, there will be crappy days of course as is with every job and good lucki:)

Everyday I suffer through twenty pages of documentation, that no one will ever read (except auditors), to get to the sick people on the other side. That IS passion.

I commend you for what you do:)

unquestionably, i love your passion and sense of reality regarding our beloved nursing profession, therefore, i shall quote what a wise person said once "choose a job you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life"....

now wait for it~

that is my point exactly and even if you have to work in a position you don't like to get to where you would love to be.. it's all worth it.. i don't want to be a medical assistant, i'd rather be a nurse. but i did it to get my foot in the door. and i still partly love it because it is still a position in the medical field but a part of me has a burning inside yearning to be a nurse..and it kills me lol but i still wouldn't say i hate my job because i love to help people

As long as a nurse is competent at their job, why on earth would anyone care if they are in it because of a "calling" or because they just want a decent job.

I am not ashamed to admit I became a nurse because I live in Michigan, and a well paying job with security is hard to come by.

I've seen plenty of 2nd career former factory or construction workers who are way WAY more competent than some of the "Florence Nightengale Syndrome" nurses out there.

I agree. That was my point. When it is to the point of being incompetent at their work place that is where I think they need to step back and evaluate...I personally was not saying that just because someone has a bad day..or week even they should consider quitting but I do know that if they are bringing their personal business to work and taking it out on patient's in combination of them not "liking" their job, to me that is not right. If your forcing yourself to do the job to pay your bills but in return patient's are uncomfortable and your compromising lives...I absolutely do not agree with that...at all..It actually makes me angry and that is why I am on this post. Because I am tired of people(Not saying you) sugar coating things just because its their job. If you can't perform your job correctly get out of the profession there are people who really care and will smile at the end of the day regardless of what happens like me

Not everyone can realistically meet their responsibilities to their families and financial responsibilites after investing the time and money only to find out their chosen carreer is not a good match.

Agreed. But is that an excuse for the rest of someone's life...they picked the wrong career...so did a million people on here before they considered being a nurse but they picked up and decided to do what's best for them even if it is at 40 or whatever don't make yourself miserable...

Specializes in ICU.

Just a gentle reminder that nurses are in the NURSING field; doctors are in the MEDICAL field. If you want to practise medicine, you go to medical school. I have heard both nurses and MA's say they went to medical school~ no, they didn't. They are two separate disciplines. Sorry, that is just one of my pet peeves.

Just a gentle reminder that nurses are in the NURSING field; doctors are in the MEDICAL field. If you want to practise medicine, you go to medical school. I have heard both nurses and MA's say they went to medical school~ no, they didn't. They are two separate disciplines. Sorry, that is just one of my pet peeves.

I agree Nurses and MAs don't go to med school I don't know who told you that but that would be very ill informed. But being a MA and being a Nurse is still part of the Medical field. You practice medicine. I am pretty sure before Nursing had a name it was just a title that had to do with medicine to began with. You dont have to be a doctor to be in the medical field. I want to be a NP one day, I won't have to go to med school would I? NO but I will be doing a lot of things a Doctor does. Not everything but some. Plus I am a MEDICAL assistant how the heck is that not in the MEDICAL field?lol

I agree Nurses and MAs don't go to med school I don't know who told you that but that would be very ill informed. But being a MA and being a Nurse is still part of the Medical field. You practice medicine. I am pretty sure before Nursing had a name it was just a title that had to do with medicine to began with. You dont have to be a doctor to be in the medical field. I want to be a NP one day, I won't have to go to med school would I? NO but I will be doing a lot of things a Doctor does. Not everything but some. Plus I am a MEDICAL assistant how the heck is that not in the MEDICAL field?lol
Actually, nurses (or MAs) do NOT practice medicine. That is being a physician, being able to diagnose and prescribe medications and stuff like that. I get what you mean, we are all health care workers and all that. But be careful saying things like "I practice medicine" technically that's not legal.
$$$ speaks....volumes at that. I hate to say it but I like nursing because it does allow me to have a lot better life than if I was a medic. It simply pays a lot more. Am I terrible person for that?

I always shake my head at the notion that nurses make good money. Compared to most of my friends with the same level of education, I don't make diddly.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
regardless of what someone has going on when you get to that door that should be gone...like i said i know a nurse double chemo and all and she's still working without complaining...the patients don't ask for you to bring your personal problems into their situations they are there for care not to care about you!

clearly double chemo is an amazing person -- we're not all that perfect. you'll understand this when you're old enough to have dealt with some real problems of your own, but sometimes we just cannot leave our personal problems outside the door. some people always have personal problems that they cannot leave at the door; i'm not addressing that. but there are nurses who have personal problems that they're dealing with that you do not even begin to understand. not everything can be left behind so easily, nor should it be.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

i don't mean to sound rude with this:

but it seems as if the "future nurses" on this thread are a little judgmental and unrealistic. pre nursing, nursing school and actual nursing are very different worlds!!

when i was 22, i thought i knew everything. now that i'm considerably past that age, i realize that i didn't have a clue then. and i realize how very much there is to know that i still haven't figured out. i suspect "future nurses" are in the same shoes.

I think that having a job period is a blessing...there are millions of unemployed americans who would willingly trade places with those who hate their job as nurse...just a thought. Be happy for what you have while you have it.

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